Primary energy intensity improvement, 2011-2021 and projected to 2020-2030. The 2021 estimate is based on World Energy Outlook 2021. The Net Zero Emissions Scenario is the IEA Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario, 2020-2030 intensity improvements, ten-year average. Graphic: IEA

Energy efficiency gains are too slow for a sustainable climate path

By Ben Geman 17 November 2021 (Axios) – A new International Energy Agency report shows rising investment in energy efficiency and gains in the efficiency of the global economy, but both lag levels needed for a sustainable climate path. Why it matters: Boosting efficiency is vital to meeting climate goals. By the numbers: Global energy intensity — that is, […]

Map showing the area of the Gulf of Mexico covered by the U.S. oil and gas lease sale on 17 November 2021. Source: US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Graphic: The Guardian

“Huge climate bomb”: U.S. auctions off oil and gas drilling leases in Gulf of Mexico after climate talks – “Coming in the aftermath of the climate summit, this is just mind boggling”

By Oliver Milman 17 November 2021 (The Guardian) – Just four days after landmark climate talks in Scotland in which Joe Biden vowed the US will “lead by example” in tackling dangerous global heating, the president’s own administration is providing a jarring contradiction – the largest ever sale of oil and gas drilling leases in the Gulf […]

Projected coal demand in the Stated Policies Scenario in the World Energy Outlooks 2021, 2020, and 2016. The International Energy Agency’s flagship outlook in October 2021 projected that under nations’ existing policies, global demand doesn’t begin falling again for several years. Then it declines but in 2050 is still at 70 percent of today’s levels. The IEA’s roadmap for reaching net-zero global emissions by 2050 requires a 55 percent decline by 2030. Graphic: IEA

After COP26: The long road to phasing down coal – “It is hard to shut down coal facilities because few countries have sufficient spare capacity in their electricity systems to be able to do so”

By Ben Geman 16 November 2021 (Axios) – Let’s leave to history to see whether the COP26 deal to “phase down” coal instead of “phase out” makes any real-world difference, but what’s clear is that any meaningful “phasing” at all is hard. Why it matters: Coal is the most carbon-intensive fuel. Any pathway to meeting the Paris Agreement […]

Satellite view showing plumes of potent greenhouse gas methane leaking from a gas pipeline in Kazakhstan, captured by the European Sentinel 2 and Sentinel 5P satellites. Photo: Copernicus

Satellites discover huge, undeclared methane emissions – “These are large emissions, and we see a lot of them on the global scale, much more than we had expected”

By Tereza Pultarova 16 November 2021 (Space.com) – Huge amounts of uncounted emissions of highly warming greenhouse gas methane are being released by “super-emitters” all over the world, satellite observations reveal. Scientists have only recently worked out how to detect methane emissions from space, but what they have seen since has taken them by surprise. […]

Gap between promised CO2 emissions reductions and the required level to reach the 1.5C Paris target. Photo: The Juice Media

Honest Government Ad: Net Zero by 2050 (feat. Greta) – “If you take all our promises and add them together, that puts us on track for ‘Still Very Much Fucked by 2050’”

6 November 2011 (The Juice Media) – Hello, I’m from the Government™ with an update on how we’re handling the climate crisis. We know you’re all counting on us to solve this problem, so humanity can keep enjoying its favourite pastime: continuing to live on this planet. But you see, we’ve realised that we are […]

Sateliite data showing the 2021 Antarctic ozone hole, which reached its maximum area on 7 October 2021 and ranked as the 13th-largest such feature since 1979. This view, from a NASA video, shows its current extent based on satellite data. Data: Paul Newman and Eric Nash / NASA / Ozone Watch. Graphic: Joshua Stevens

Video: Larger-than-average ozone hole over Antarctica in 2021 – Ozone layer recovery slower than anticipated, will be no earlier than 2070

By Elizabeth Howell 5 November 2021 (Space.com) – A new NASA video highlights the giant ozone hole that opened over Antarctica this year. A cold Southern Hemisphere winter, and possible effects of global warming, have caused the hole to grow to its 13th-largest extent since 1979. The ozone depletion you see in the NASA video is monitored by three […]

Satellite view of Lake Tuz in Turkey acquired on 23 October 2021. Lake Tuz is Turkey's second-largest lake and home to several bird species. During the summer of 2021, the lake completely dried up causing the death of thousands of flamingos and other bird species that inhabit the lake. Experts attribute the extreme drought in eastern Turkey to climate change. Photo: European Union / Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery

Haunting satellite imagery shows Turkey’s second-largest lake has dried up

By Molly Taft 2 November 2021 (Gizmodo) – A new satellite image of Turkey’s Lake Tuz is gorgeous—and, if you know more about what it’s portraying, worrying. The stunning capture from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellite shows Turkey’s second-largest lake has completely dried up this year, exposing a haunting expanse of salt. While Lake Tuz, one of the world’s largest saltwater lakes, […]

Total Annual CO2-e emissions in Australia during the Labor and Liberal governments. Photo: The Juice Media

Honest Government Ad: COP26 Climate Summit – “Fuck you: we’ll keep digging, burning and exporting fossil fuels, let you to do the hard work, and then take all the credit”

27 October 2021 (The Juice Media) – I’m from the Australien Government with a message for the world as we gather in Glasgow for this crucial climate summit: Fuck you. Over the coming days our Prime Marketer will be there trying to shake a lot of hands and saying a lot of blah blah blah […]

Aerial view of JERA's Hekinan thermal coal power station in Hekinan, central Japan on 18 October 2021. Picture taken October 18, 2021. Photo: Yuka Obayashi / REUTERS

COP26 aims to banish coal. Asia is building hundreds of power plants to burn it – “You can have the cake of coal and an icing of solar”

By Sudarshan Varadhan and Aaron Sheldrick31 October 2021 UDANGUDI, India/TOKYO (Reuters) – On the coastline near India’s southern tip, workers toil on a pier carrying a conveyor belt that cuts a mile into the Indian Ocean where the azure waters are deep enough for ships to berth and unload huge cargoes of coal. The belt […]

A bumblebee in flight approaches a flower. Photo: Michael Durham / Minden Pictures / Getty Images

The American bumblebee has vanished from eight states – Bee population has plummeted by 89 percent over past 20 years – “Endangered species” listing could be imminent

By Elizabeth Gamillo 6 October 2021 (Smithsonian) – The American bumblebee (Bombus pensylvanicus)—once abundant and found lazily floating around in grasslands, open prairies, and some urban areas throughout the United States—now face a rapidly declining population. According to a proposed rule released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the species’ population has dropped nearly 90 percent […]

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